Golf tee blank



Oct 1957 c. B. OVERBAUGH 2,809,839

GOLF TEE BLANK Filed Oct. 23, 1953 3nventor baugh u WHITEHEAD a VOGL (Ittornegs UnitedStates Patent GOLF TEE BLANK Charles B. Overbaugh, Denver, Colo.

Application October 23, 1953, Serial No. 387,885

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-210) This invention relates to supports for spherical objects, and more particularly, to a support for golf balls, and will be hereinafter referred to as a tee. The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved tee for holding golf balls and similar spherical objects which is made of sheet material such as cardboard.

Other objects of this invention are to provide such a tee, of sheet material, which (a) comprises a simple, substantially square blank that may be formed by a single stamping operation; (b) provides a unit so cheap in cost that advertising material may be printed on its surface to defray the cost of manufacture and so cheap that it may be discarded :after a use or two; (0) may be furnished for distribution as single units or as groups in book form, similar to match books; (d) is formed to provide a flat base having members foldable to upstand from the plane of the base to support a golf ball above a ground, concrete or floor surface which is too hard to permit'the insertion of an ordinary pin-type tee therein; and (e) may be folded to an alternate form to provide a standard having a ball-carrying saddle therein.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which more fully hereinafter appear, my invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter described and as defined in the appended claim and illustrated, in preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows in plan, a blank of sheet material cut and ready to be bent into one of the forms of my improved golf ball tee.

Figure 2 is a section as viewed from the indicated line 22 at Fig. 1, but on an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is an isometric view of the blank shown at Fig. 1 with tab elements within the blank folded upwardly to provide a completed tee ready for holding a golf ball.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the tee of Fig. 3 with a golf ball thereon shown in broken lines.

Figure 5 is an isometric view of the blank shown at Fig. 1, but folded to form an upright stand with a saddle at the top. 7

Figure 6 is a side elevation view of the arrangement shown at Fig. 5 with a golf ball shown in broken lines mounted thereon.

Figure 7 is an isometric view of a book of the blanks of Fig. 1, but on a reduced scale.

Referring more'particularly to the drawing, my im proved tee is formed as a blank 10 of cardboard or similar sheet material, and this blank is scored, cut and shaped to provide alternate forms for use, one form contemplating the use of the blank as a flat base having upstanding pointed tabs adapted to support a ball above the plane of the base as shown at the Figs. 3 and 4 construction, and the other form contemplating the use of the blank as a folded member forming an upturned, wedgeshaped, stand with a saddle at the ridge of the stand as shown at Figs. 5 and 6. V

The general outline of the blank 10 may be varied Where the use of the blank is only as a flat base as shown at Figs. 3 and 4. However, to provide a blank adapted for both uses, its outline is substantially square. One pair of opposing side edges 11 of this square blank is inwardly arched to form points 12 at the four corners of the square. The blank is divided into two similar panels for folding to the wedge-shaped stand by a fold line 13 at the axis between the opposing side edges 11 and when so folded the blank forms the stand with the points 12 at the base and the fold line 13 at the ridge.

The ball-supporting tabs are formed by cutting a pair of mutually perpendicular slots 14 and 14 in the center of the blank. The slot 14 is out along the central portion of the fold line 13 and the mating slot 14', of the same length, is out along a central axis of the blank perpendicular to the fold line 13. Thus, the slots 14 and 14' intersect at their centers and at the center of the blank to form a symmetrical cross. Inclined fold lines 15 extend around this cross and connect with the ends of each slot to form a square shaped diamond and to define triangular pointed tabs 16 within the diamond which may be folded upwardly out of the plane of the blank 10 as clearly shown at Figs. 3 and 4. The points of these tabs 16 may be used to support a ball G as clearly shown at Fig. 4, providing the form of a golf ball tee in which the body of the tab 10 serves as a base and the upstanding tabs 16 support the ball. Such a base may rest upon any type of surface and is especially suitable for use on a hard smooth surface such as concrete or a floor where a conventional tee could not be used.

When the blank is folded at the line 13 to form the stand, with the fold line 13 as the ridge thereof, the sup porting points 12 provide means for preventing the slipping of the tab when resting upon a fiat surface. When used as a standard, the tabs 16 are folded outwardly from the ridge and form a saddle adapted to support a golf ball G as clearly shown at Fig. 6.

The manufacture of this blank can be by a single stamping which outlines the blank, provides scoring marks at the fold lines 13 and 15, and cuts out the slots 14 and 14'. Each blank may include a removable binding edge 17 along one of the sides 18 between the sides 11 to permit a plurality of such blanks to be interconnected to form a book as shown at Fig. 7.

While I have illustrated in great detail the form and construction of 7 my invention, alternatives and equivalents which are within the scope and spirit of my invention will occur to others skilled in the art, hence it is my desire that my protection be not limited to the details shown and described but only by the proper scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

For a ball-supporting tee formed as a folded stand with a folded edge defining a lineal ridge along the top edge thereof and a ball-receiving saddle in the ridge, a blank, including a sheet of substantially rigid, bendable material having a fold line dividing said sheet into panels for folding with the fold line forming said ridge, two perpendicular, centrally-intersecting cuts forming a cross in the face of said sheet, one cut being on said fold line, and diagonal fold lines interconnecting the ends of the cuts in the form of a diamond about the cross, whereby said cuts and diagonal fold lines define tabs adapted to be folded outwardly to form said ball-receiving saddle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 347,324 Cramer Aug. 17, 1886 412,090 Hersher Oct. 1, 1889 1,593,458 McBride July 20, 1926 2,103,026 Van Valkenburg Dec. 21, 1937 2,186,057 Whitman Ian. 9, 1940 Patented Oct. 15, 1957 

